Tricopter

[Razor_Racer]

Sort of a blend between a heli and a plane, but flies just like a FP. Nice and smooth, hopefully I'll be building one for chirstmas!
Heres the basic design, but mine will look different:
http://static.rcgroups.com/forums/attachments/3/6/5/7/7/a1613139-225-Y-UFO_withCanopy1.jpg

Ill be using larger motors, and T-Rex 450 tail booms. The Tricopter you see above is a kit, it sells for 370 because it includes a lot of mixers and whatnot. But the mixers do the same thing CCPM does (notice similarities between the Tricopter and a 120 degree swash!), so I'll just be making my own and using my DX7.

Rudder is by pivoting all of the motors one way or another (which is why you need round booms).

It flies very smoothly with no moving parts beside the rudder and the motors, so vibrations should be limited!

[WayneBrown]

link or photo?

[Razor_Racer]

Whoops, looks like the pics didnt make it!
Heres the tricopter thing that got me interested: http://www.elektrorc.com/index.php?cPath=23_55_56

It costs so much because of the external mixers, but since I have a DX7 with CCPM I dont need those.

Heres some better pics of it:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1609660

[skywalker73]

Looks like one of those dragonfly ap "ufo's"

[Razor_Racer]

I've been sort of neglecting updating this thread on HF :o

Lots of work done. I wont bother explaining with words, just pics for now:


http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/5890/woot008st8.jpg
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/5896/hexagonum0.jpg
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/4993/motormount1sl6.jpg
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/1200/motormountmounted001uu4.jpg
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/552/motormountmounted002gr4.jpg
http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/299/finishedmounts001ga8.jpg
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/2443/finishedmounts002xw9.jpg
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/3893/finishedmounts003uc0.jpg
http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/4853/moremounts001ec6.jpg
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/9853/moremounts002kb1.jpg
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/1337/moremounts003pp0.jpg
http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/3126/moremounts004ju8.jpg
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/3839/evenmorefinishedmounts0cs4.jpg
http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/5829/fuse001bj2.jpg
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/4593/fuse002xi5.jpg
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/7328/servodz9.jpg
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/3950/tricopter002xn0.jpg
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/3144/tricopter004vv7.jpg

After all of this copy-pasting picture thingy I dont feel like writing, feel free to ask Qs :)

[Hogster]

Fascinating work! I'll be keeping an eye on this thread! :)


David :D

[WayneBrown]

does it fly yet?

[Razor_Racer]

Doesnt fly yet, still have more work to do! The part I dislike most is all of the soldering... so many wires :thumbdown:

[Razor_Racer]

Finally got around to doing more work :)

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/9377/3108001gk3.jpg

I basically got the steering setup finished after getting some threaded rod at the LHS. The servo is mounted with some double sided servo tape. I thought it would just be temporary, but I feel like it's sturdy enough to actually fly with it. Also the motor mount is CA'ed in, thats the only permanent part of the setup.

I mounted the motor on the very end of the carbon rod. The servo can handle the load just well, but the motor wires will be two feet long! Will it be okay?

[Razor_Racer]

Everything to do with the steering is done. All the linkages are made, along with a 3-way Y harness for the servos.
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/862/3508001yj1.jpg
http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/4219/3508002eh0.jpg
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/5801/3508rm7.jpg

Now I need to finish up motor wiring and making a lower platform for the ESCs, battery and reciever.

[Razor_Racer]

Oh, update. Its finished! It flew :)





for a few seconds :thumbdown:

The cheap $10 ESCs increments of power are too big, so even with ridiculous amounts of expo and almost no travel, the thing is too sensitive... so its failed.

Time to make 3 planes, 1 for SS, 1 to learn to fly elevons, 1 for AP :)

[gregwee]

I don't think it was ever possible to fly this with just the CCPM mixer on your Tx.. If this is anything like the Draganflyers, then the mixer incorporates built in gyros for pitch, roll and yaw which your DX7 wouldn't be able to do, even with huge amounts of expo.